Spanish Escape: The Playboy of Puerto Banús / A Game of Vows / For the Sake of Their Son. Carol Marinelli

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      ‘So are many people. It doesn’t mean we go around…’ He did not complete his sentence yet he’d made his rather crude point. ‘Are you here tonight for your brother?’

      Estelle could not answer. She had agreed to be here for Gordon, yet she knew they both knew the truth.

      ‘Do you have siblings?’ Estelle asked.

      There was a long stretch of silence. His father had asked that he not reveal anything just yet, but it would all be out in the open soon. Estelle came and stood beside him as she awaited his answer. Perhaps she would go straight to the press in the morning. Raúl actually did not care right now. He could not think about tomorrow. It was taking all his control to get through the night.

      ‘Had you asked me that yesterday the answer would have been no.’ He turned his head, saw her frown at his answer and was grateful that she did not push for more detail. Instead she stayed silent as Raúl admitted a little of the truth. ‘This morning my father told me that I have a brother—Luka.’ It felt strange to say his name. ‘Luka Sanchez Garcia.’

      From their little lesson earlier, Estelle knew they did not share the same mother. ‘Have you met him?’

      ‘Unwittingly.’

      ‘How old is he?’

      She asked the same question that he had asked his father, though the relevance of the answer she could not know.

      ‘Twenty-five,’ Raúl said. ‘I walked into my father’s office this morning, expecting my usual lecture—he insists it is time for me to settle down.’ He gave a small mirthless laugh. ‘I had no idea what was coming. My father is dying and he wants his affairs put in order. My affairs too. And so he told me he has another son…’

      ‘It must have been the most terrible shock.’

      ‘Skeletons in the closet are not unique,’ Raúl said. ‘But this was not some long-ago affair that has suddenly come to light. My father has kept another life. He sees his mistress in the north of Spain. I thought he went there so regularly for work. We have a hotel in San Sebastian. It is his main interest. Now I know why.’

      Estelle tried to imagine what it was like, finding out something like this, and Raúl stood trying to comprehend that he had actually told another—how readily he had opened up to her. Then he reminded himself why. For his solution to come to fruition of course Estelle had to be told.

      Some of it, at least.

      He would never reveal all.

      ‘His PA—Angela—she has always been…’

      He gave a tight shrug. Angela had not been so much like a mother, but she had been a constant—a woman he trusted. Raúl closed his eyes, remembered walking out of his father’s office and the words he had hurled to the one woman he had believed did not have an agenda.

      ‘We have always got on. It turns out the son she speaks of often is in fact my half-brother.’ He gave a wry smile. ‘A lot of my childhood was spent with my aunt or uncle. I assumed my father was working at the hotel in San Sebastian. It turns out he was with his mistress and his son.’ Black was the hiss that came from his mouth. ‘It’s all sorry and excuses now. I always prided myself on knowing what goes on, on being astute. It turns out I knew nothing.’

      He had said enough. More than enough for one night.

      ‘So, in answer to your question—yes. I have a brother.’

      He shrugged naked shoulders and her fingers balled into her palms in an effort not to rest her hand on them.

      ‘Unlike you, I care nothing for mine.’

      ‘You might if you knew him.’

      ‘That’s not going to happen.’

      She felt a small shiver, put it down to the night air. But his voice was so black with loathing it could have been that. ‘I’m going to go in.’

      ‘Please don’t.’

      Estelle had to get back—back to the safety of Gordon—yet she did not want to walk away from him.

      She had to.

      ‘Goodnight, Raúl…’

      ‘Stay.’

      She shook her head, grateful for the ringing of his phone—for the diversion it offered. But as she went to open the door she heard a woman’s frantic voice coming down the corridor.

      ‘Pick up Raúl. Where the hell are you?’

      He had lightning reflexes. Quickly Raúl turned his phone off and pulled Estelle into the shadows.

      ‘I need a favour.’

      Before she knew what was happening she was in his arms, his tongue prising her lips open, his hand at her pyjama top. Estelle struggled against him before realising what was happening. She could hear Araminta calling out to Raúl, and if she saw the balcony any moment now she would come out.

      But Araminta didn’t. She stumbled past the balcony, the couple on it unseen.

      He could stop now, Estelle thought. Except her pyjama top was completely open, her breasts splayed against his naked chest.

      We should stop now, she thought as his tongue chased hers.

      He made a low moan into her mouth; it was the sexiest thing she had ever heard or felt. He slid one hand over her bottom and his tongue was hot and moist.

      Suddenly sending a message to Araminta was the last thing on Raúl’s mind.

      Estelle wanted his kiss to end, and yet she yearned for it to go on—like a forbidden path she was running down, wanting to get to the end, to glimpse again the woman he made her. It was a kiss that should not be happening, but it was one she did not want to end.

      ‘Don’t go back to him…’ Raúl’s mouth barely left hers as he voiced his command.

      He had intended to speak with her at a later point, perhaps get her phone number, but having tasted her, having kissed her, he could not stand the thought of her in Gordon’s bed. He would reveal his plan right now.

      He peeled his mouth off hers, his breath coming hard on her lips. ‘Come now with me.’

      It was then that she fully realised her predicament. Raúl assumed this was the norm for her, that she readily gave her body.

      As he moved in to kiss her again she slapped him. It was the only way she knew how to end this.

      ‘You pay more, do you?’ She was disgusted with his thought processes.

      ‘I did not mean it like that.’ Raúl felt the sting on his cheek and knew that it was merited—knew how his suggestion must have come across. But business had been the last thing on his mind. He had simply not wanted her going back to another man. ‘I meant—’

      ‘I know exactly what you meant.’

      ‘Bastard!’

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